


Aunt Lauren

by sirknightmordred



Series: Malec AU Works - Part Two [19]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 02:18:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12223728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirknightmordred/pseuds/sirknightmordred
Summary: Alec remembers.





	Aunt Lauren

**Author's Note:**

> [Part of a Malec AU Askblog - https://askmagnusandalec.tumblr.com/]

“Mom.” Alec says, his demeanour heavy with sadness.

“Alec?” Maryse asks turning to her son and seeing the state he’s in. His clothing is ruffled, more so than usual, his hair a mess, and he looks like has been crying. He looks so young and small, like when he was a child. But she’s never seen him like this. Her protective instincts soon start to cut in as she thinks about who could have done this. Who could have put him into this state? He was fine this morning. Smiling even over an early lunch with her and Isabelle.

“What’s wrong?”

“Mom, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Maryse is in panic mode now. She’s never seen him like this, so lost. So open and vulnerable. A weight anchoring him down, a sadness so profound it seeps out of his every pour. Is this because of his aunt? Of her sister? It was so long ago. It can’t be can it? He hardly remembers her. He said that before, he says that every year on this date. He always gives her a hug, knowing how close Maryse was with her sister, how affected and saddening her death had been on her. He was always so strong.

“About what?” Maryse’s tries to reach out with her hand to touch her son’s arm, but he backs away.

“For Aunt Lauren. It was my fault. I could have saved her and I didn’t.” Alec’s voice is so close to tears Maryse wants nothing more than to pull him into a deepening hug.

“By the angel, Alec, what are you talking about?”

“I killed her.” Alec says like it’s obvious. “I did this. I’m the one who let her die.”

…

_“This ice cream is the best.” Alec says as he lick at his cone furiously. “Mom never lets us have ice cream.”_

_“I know, kid.” Lauren says with a smile and a laugh as her nephew continues to devour the cone. “That’s why I thought I’d bring you out here. Show you the world and all that. There’s more to life than that Institute and just because your mom can’t leave doesn’t mean that you can’t.”_

_“Huh?”_

_“Oh, nothing.”_

_It’s one thing to sneak her nephew out of the Institute under her sister’s wrath, but it’s a whole other thing to tell him about her and her husband’s past. About the choices that they made. Lauren’s never blamed them or been angry, if she had the choice she probably would have followed her sister, but her parents had a strict hold on her. Not wanting her to be anything but the perfect daughter. And that included “dressing like a boy” and “being gay.” Lauren was neither. She was just a person that didn’t care about labels and things like that. So what if she felt manlier most of the time? So what if she doesn’t want to get married one day? Why should any of that matter?_

_“Auntie, what’s that?” Alec asks, frightened, now at the end of his cone._

_Lauren is immediately on guard, her weapon at the ready as they spot something in the alleyway. A woman is hovering over a man withering in pain, screaming beyond belief. It makes Alec sick to his stomach as he hears those noises, those sounds. Then suddenly, Aunt Laruen is crouched down in front of him, holding onto his shoulders and tell him sternly, “Hide behind those garbage bags, and don’t come out no matter what.”_

_Alec nods his head, terrified as he follows her command. He waits there for a long time, the last remnants of his ice cream melting down his fingers. He’s shaking, even though he shouldn’t be. He’s a Shadowhunter, a Lightwood, so why is he so scared?_

_Then he hears it. More screaming, but he recognizes it as his Aunt. As Aunt Lauren. She’s begging for mercy and whether it’s reckless or stupid or even brave, Alec runs out of his hiding spot toward her. He picks up a crowbar laying by the brick wall of the alleyway and approaches the woman standing over the now dead man and his screaming Aunt. He hits her over the head with the crowbar and she falls over. Out of instinct or fear, he grabs his Aunt’s discarded weapon and pushes it into the woman’s stomach before she can get up. It should be difficult or hard for an eight year old, but it’s somehow so easy. He lets go and she falls, the sword still in her stomach. Alec then turns to his screaming Aunt as she thrashes around._

_“Aunt Lauren! Aunt Lauren!” Alec tries. “What do I do? What do I do?”_

_Lauren, despite the pain grabs Alec’s hand and puts her stele in his. She uses her finger to draw a rune into his palm. She then taps her arm, and Alec gets it. She wants him to draw a rune on her. This rune. But he’s never done it before, how can he…?_

_Alec looks to the dead woman, a warlock he now knows, and then back to his Aunt. He sucks in his breath and grips the stele as Lauren tries to stifle her screams. Alec tries to draw it, he really does. But his hands are shaking and the images of the girl he just murdered are fresh in his mind. When he finally draws the rune, Lauren’s body is still, and it doesn’t take effect. She’s gone. She’s dead._

_Alec sits there, shocked and dazed for hours until his mother and father find him sitting in a pool of blood. His hand still clutching her stele._

_‘What did I do?’_

_…_

“Alec, listen to me.” Maryse says, her hands on his arm and shoulder. “That was not your fault. You were only eight years old, a boy. Your Aunt Lauren,” Maryse pauses, holding back her own sadness, “Would understand. She would not blame you and neither do I.”

Alec can’t hold it in any longer and tears start to fall from his eyes. Maryse is quick to pull him into a tight embrace.

“I’m so sorry that you’ve been carrying this weight, Alec, but it is not your fault. It’s not.”


End file.
